Murderer jailed for life for killing pregnant ex-girlfriend

A VIOLENT and controlling boyfriend has been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years in prison for murdering his 17-year-old pregnant ex-girlfriend.

Ben Blakeley, aged 22, killed Jayden Parkinson, in the countryside on December 3 last year – 24 hours after she told him she was expecting his child.

Jayden Parkinson’s late father Paul Parkinson previously went to school in Breightmet and had lived in Bolton.

After strangling the teenager, Blakeley buried her body in his uncle's grave at a cemetery in Didcot, Oxfordshire.

The former binman was obsessive and controlling and threatened to post intimate videos and photographs of Jayden on Facebook after their break up, hoping she would kill herself as a result.

A jury at Oxford Crown Court yesterday found Blakeley guilty of Jayden's murder following a five-week trial by a majority decision of 11-1 after more than 20 hours of deliberations.

Blakeley, of Reading, Berkshire, had denied murdering Jayden but admitted her manslaughter.

His brother, Jake Blakeley, aged 17, admitted a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice by helping to dig the grave in which Jayden was later buried.

The jury of six men and six women was dismissed on Friday having failed to reach a verdict on whether Jake Blakeley, of Didcot, prevented a lawful burial for Jayden. The Crown Prosecution Service will decide whether to seek a retrial.

Judge Patrick Eccles QC said Blakeley had spun a "web of lies" to cover up what he had done.

Judge Eccles said: “Jayden was infatuated with you, her violent abuser, and found it difficult to separate emotionally from you.”

The judge said Jayden finally plucked up the courage to end the relationship in November last year, with Blakeley threatening to pose intimate photographs online to “humiliate” her.

The judge said the pregnancy was the only reason Jayden met Blakeley on December 3.